


Together

by couldvelovedyou



Category: Football RPF
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-30
Updated: 2013-06-30
Packaged: 2017-12-16 16:25:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/864119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/couldvelovedyou/pseuds/couldvelovedyou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Iker and Álvaro sit next to each other on the flight home from Brazil. They talk out their problems and learn a few things.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Together

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really heartbroken about these two and all their latest interviews about each other. Get it together boys, you're making me cry (and we have a long season ahead of us).

Honestly, Iker should have seen this coming from the moment Raúl Albiol blabbed to the press about friendships that have gone sour. So when he boards the plane that takes him from Brazil back to Spain, he isn't really surprised when everyone is already paired up and Sergio tilts his head to the side and motions for him to go back to the one open seat next to Álvaro.

He shrugs, drops down into the seat but doesn't say a word. He looks away, and Álvaro doesn't look at him, and his fingers itch to get his headphones out of his bag but he doesn't. He knows what this is about and he understands that it's gone on for too long.

They buckle up for takeoff and he notices the way Álvaro's hands shake a little and his eyes are tightly shut. "Are you okay?" he asks, and he thinks maybe Álvaro is getting sick, and also these are the first words he's spoken to him in ages, but before long Álvaro turns his head and just blinks at him and Iker remembers that Álvaro is actually scared of flying and he always gets like that on the plane.

"Sorry," he mumbles. Álvaro closes his eyes again and Iker takes a deep breath, thinks, I haven't even looked at him for so long.

-

An hour passes quietly. Iker still doesn't reach for his music, but doesn't say a word either. He knows he's waiting for Álvaro to speak first, has to admit he has no idea what to say to start and resolve this.

It's a good thing Álvaro never has a problem speaking up, because he breaks the silence first. "Do you want me to go?" he asks, and Iker turns to look at him. He starts to shift in his seat to make it easier for Álvaro to hop over him and go sit next to someone else – Albiol, Soldado – but that's not what he meant at all. "It's easy now that Dani is back, I can just… leave," Álvaro finishes, and Iker didn't even realize this was something that he would think about, that it's actually an option, that he thinks Iker would push him out of Madrid. He starts-"What-" and stops. "No," comes out eventually. "Why would you think that?"

Álvaro just shrugs and looks out the window instead.

-

It's quiet, and Iker moves uncomfortably in his seat. Álvaro talks again.

"I have a son, you know."

Iker's forehead furrows on its own and he feels miserable. He's sure he did know that, heard it in a dressing room or on the Internet or from Sara, but he didn't act on it, not breaking this silence they took upon themselves. He wonders if he's always been that bad at deteriorating friendships or if this is the result of the worst season of his life.

"I'm sorry," he says, and he means it. "I should have-"

Sent flowers? Tiny gloves? A card? He's not sure. "What's his name?" he asks instead.

He thinks he sees a smile appearing on Álvaro's lips for a quick second.

-

It's Iker who breaks the silence this time to take off his chest what he's been holding there for months.

"I have two screws in my hand."

Álvaro stares at him, a wave of emotions crossing his face. "I'm sorry," rolls off his tongue so quickly that Iker knows he means it. "You didn't say anything," he still says, the hurt hanging between them.

"I called," Álvaro says. "After your surgery. Sara said you're okay but you're really tired and not up to talking so I assumed you didn't want to hear from me." 

Iker doesn't admit that his girlfriend never asked him or mentioned it, but realizes that she read his mind really well. 

"I didn't do it on purpose," Álvaro says, and Iker knows that, of course he does, but Álvaro's face is hard and his lips are a straight line and Iker wonders just how much the media gets to him.

-

"Is this about the lunch I had with some twitter people?"

Iker sighs. "You went out to eat with people who campaign to kick me out of the team."

"You do that all the time," Álvaro says. "You know what they write about me and you don't care."

"I don't care what they write," it's not really what Álvaro was saying but for Iker this is the important thing. "You know I don't, nobody does." He really doesn't think Álvaro should care what journalists think of his abilities, as long as his coaches start him all the time. Even if some of these journalists are Iker's friends.

"Yeah, well. Nobody writes horrible stuff about you, so you don't know what it's like."

Iker chuckles. "I do know. It's just that my stuff is online. A lot of people write it to me."

The way Álvaro looks down tells Iker that he didn't realize that. Maybe they both don't realize a lot of things about each other, Iker thinks.

-

"I know you think I'm a bad captain."

"That's not-" Álvaro starts to say but the look on Iker's face stops him. "Look," he says as he rubs his eyes. "I just think there are some things you should do differently."

"I'm not going to beat up Messi or stop being friends with Xavi, Álvaro. Ever."

Álvaro rolls his eyes. "You know that's not what I mean. Doesn't it bother you when he says our football is ugly? Or that we're bad losers or that messed up Clásicos are always our fault and that we put the national team at risk?"

He looks at Iker expectantly but Iker shrugs and looks down. Of course it bothers him, but what is he supposed to do- go out to the press every week to bad mouth Barcelona and scold Xavi? That's not how he sees the captaincy.

When he looks back up he sees in Álvaro's face the way he holds back from saying anything more. Iker thinks about his vote for the Balon d'Or, the goals he didn't celebrate, the way he came back from the Euro's and what Sara said in her interviews.

-

"Can we get over this?" Álvaro finally asks, when it's almost time to land.

Iker doesn't take the time to contemplate. He just says yes.

They go back to training three weeks after that, and Álvaro smiles at him in the dressing room.

He does send a package of a little keeper kit, and Álvaro puts up on instagram a picture of little Raúl in his tiny gloves.

On the flight to the US for the pre-season, they find themselves sitting together again. Sergio looks at them smugly and takes all the credit.

Iker pats Álvaro on his back gratefully on the third home match of the season for saving his ass in front of the goal, and Álvaro jumps on him and screams in his ear when Cristiano scores their first Champions League goal of the season.

In May, they clink champagne glasses together and hug each other on the bus at Cibeles, and in July, on the way back from Brazil again, they sit together on purpose.

**Author's Note:**

> Arbeloa is probably not afraid of flying, I made that up. Dani=Caravajal.


End file.
